In its latest report, the Aldersgate Group calls for visionary leadership from the next Parliament to tackle a range of environmental challenges and help build a growing, sustainable and resilient UK economy.

The General Election of May 2015 will deliver the Parliament that will take us to 2020, the target date for many of the UK’s environmental commitments and widely calculated to be the last period in which we can implement sufficient decarbonisation programmes to avoid dangerous levels of climate change. The Autumn Statement due out tomorrow (3rd December) marks the starter’s whistle for the Election campaign.

Now is the time for ambitious leadership from all parties to win back voters with a positive and long-term vision for the UK. Many threats to the UK economy are characteristically long-term, which makes this period, six months before a General Election, politically unique in allowing parties to consider issues beyond the confines of the parliamentary cycle.

The Aldersgate Group Manifesto identifies six target areas for the next parliament to help the UK effectively address today’s big environmental challenges, whilst maximising economic benefits for the UK. The next government must (1) accelerate the move to a competitive low carbon economy, (2) prioritise energy and resource efficiency, (3) improve our understanding and the state of our natural capital, (4) equip the UK’s workforce with the right skills to benefit from the opportunities offered by the transition to a sustainable economy, (5) increase financial flows towards low carbon and other environmental projects and (6) ensure the UK continues to benefit from progressive European environmental standards whatever the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group said: “As a business-led coalition with members drawn from a wide range of economic sectors, the Aldersgate Group is well placed to advocate policies that will benefit the UK as a whole.

“The outcome of the General Election in May is unpredictable, yet we know that voters are yearning for a positive vision to tackle the challenges we face as a country today. This report sets out how politicians, recognising the climate and resource challenges that we face, can go about creating an efficient, resilient and low carbon economy and deliver significant economic and social benefits for the UK.”